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BB could almost hear Gennessey’s nerves singing as they waited for news from KSI.
Once they had driven to a part of town with better cell reception, they called in what they discovered, and Owen talked them into how to provide him with remote access to Autumn’s phone. Then the hacker had ended the call with the promise he would let them know when he had something to report. He talked Gennessey into returning to the hotel to try and rest. Rest ended up being the furthest thing from her mind.
“Why don’t you call the hospital and check on Cohen?” he suggested after her tenth lap around the balcony of their suite.
“I already did. The nurse gave him a pain pill and knocked him out. My aunt answered his phone and asked me why the hell I wasn’t at the hospital where I belonged with the rest of the family. I hung up on her.”
He studied her for a minute. “If your family doesn’t respect you, why do you bother coming back here? I can’t say I like the idea of you receiving nothing but disapproval every time you talk to them.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it now. Not when Autumn could be in danger and my cousin’s shooter is still on the loose.”
“There’s nothing more we can do now. I’m only asking because I care. I hate to see you hurt by them. Not when you love them like you do.”
She reached the edge of the balcony, turned and paused to return his gaze. His heart twisted to see unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. “There’s your answer. I love them too much to cut them out of my life. It’s enough for me to live on my own and do my own thing. I have hope that one day they’ll see my life has value even if it’s not what they wanted for me.”
He pushed to his feet, and before he could think twice, he was standing in front of her. His fingers caressed her cheek as he wished he could steal her pain away.
“They’re lucky to have you.”
“Thank you.” She swallowed, and he became distracted by the movement of her throat. “Not just for the compliment. For the support. For being here. I know we haven’t always been the best of friends, but I couldn’t have made it through this weekend without you.”
His lips twisted in a faint smile as his fingers traveled over her jaw and down her neck. “Yes, you could. I’ve always known you could do anything.”
She tilted her head. “If you believe that, then why agree to come with me?”
“Haven’t you figured it out by now? No way in hell was I going to pass up an opportunity to spend time alone with you, especially when you had no choice but to pretend you adore me. I’m just sorry it turned out the way it did.”
Her dark eyes clouded over. “How much are you sorry for?”
“I’m sorry for what happened at the wedding. For what happened to Cohen and Autumn. The rest…the rest I’m happy to have been a part of.”
His phone rang, startling the two of them enough for him to drop his hand and for her to step away. He held her gaze as he answered the phone.
“Hey,” Jay greeted him. “Is Gennessey with you?”
“Yes. We were waiting to hear back from Owen.”
“Well, he hit pay dirt. Put me on speaker.”
BB did as Jay asked, and Gennessey moved back to his side as if it would help her hear better.
“What’s up?” BB pushed himself to focus back on the case when what he really wanted was to wrap his arms about Gennessey.
“I think Owen and I have deciphered Autumn’s message.” Isobel’s voice rang clear over the line, and he could see Gennessey’s shoulders stiffened. The pulse in her neck beat faster, and he placed a hand to her back, sliding it up and down reassuringly as they listened.
Owen continued the explanation. “I searched for any record of Big Tommy having a son. Nothing popped. Then Isobel had me run down birth records for members of the O’Banion family. Her hunch paid off.”
Isobel interrupted him. “I figured if Autumn did have a half-brother, what would be his motive to kidnap her? If he wanted her dead so no one could connect her to Big Tommy, he would have just killed her. Her message said something about her being used, but for what? She didn’t even know about her connection to Big Tommy. If they knew about her ancestry search, they had to know the results were kept from her. So, I had Owen widen his search.”
Owen took over the conversation again, and BB felt a little like he was watching a ping pong match with the back-and-forth over the phone.
“The eldest O’Banion — Doyle O’Banion — who essentially started the family’s life of crime, had two children, a son and daughter. The son, Doyle O’Banion Jr., or DJ, married and had a son and daughter. The daughter, Nora, was kidnapped when she was eleven, but she was only missing for a couple of days before she was returned. There was no record of exactly what happened. Police records were incomplete, but the detective assigned to the case included his suspicions in his case report. He believed an enemy of the O’Banions kidnapped her as leverage, but somehow old man O’Banion found her. The detective believed O’Banion had worked out a deal of some kind to get her back. DJ insisted his daughter be under twenty-four-seven protection even after she was an adult. News articles painted Nora as a rebellious person, so she often gave her bodyguards the slip with the exception of one who remained her bodyguard until his arrest.”
“Let me guess,” BB interrupted. “The bodyguard was Big Tommy. I thought he was more of an enforcer for the crime family.”
Isobel continued. “Here’s where it gets complicated. Several years ago, Nora left town and stayed off the grid. Since he was no longer acting as bodyguard, Big Tommy worked more as an enforcer and worked his way up to be pretty important within the family. At some point Nora returned just as her parents announced they adopted a child. A boy. He was raised as Nora’s brother, but photos of him as a child show him bearing a striking resemblance to Big Tommy.”
“You’re saying old man O’Banion had a granddaughter who had an affair with her bodyguard, Big Tommy Burke, gave birth to a son who her parents kept secret, and then pretended her son was actually her brother.” By the time she finished connecting the dots, Gennessey’s face twisted even more in confusion. “Damn. Their family is more complicated than mine. But why would Doyle O’Banion or DJ not have killed Big Tommy for messing with Nora?”
